Newsletter

New Eaglecrest board members get oriented

The three new members of the Eaglecrest Ski Area’s board of directors got a crash course Thursday afternoon at the board’s first meeting since appointments were made last month.

Fifty minutes of time was scheduled at the start of the meeting to help recent appointees Alexis Howard, Carlton Heine and Bruce Garrison acclimate to their roles as board members.

“Most of the first part of the meeting is specifically for their benefit,” said Wayne Stevens, the board’s president, before the meeting started.

Every board member present received a fat blue folder with training materials tucked inside, including an informational packet of laws governing boards, commissions and committees, a copy of bylaws for the Eaglecrest board of directors, and an excerpt from “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Robert’s Rules” about parliamentary procedure.

The 50-minute time allotment turned out to be slightly conservative. Deputy City Clerk Beth McEwen gave an hour-long presentation briefing members on how the City and Borough of Juneau’s government is organized and what their role within it is, as well as many of the state and local laws that pertain to them.

Even board veterans like Stevens and David Audet studied the materials and followed along with McEwen’s presentation.

“Some of the code sections that you guys really need to pay attention to are the conflict of interest code and the Eaglecrest code,” McEwen told the board members. Of the latter, she advised, “Take and read this at your leisure,” but she warned that violating the conflict of interest code could amount to a misdemeanor offense.

“I’m not an attorney and I’m not going to give you legal advice,” McEwen said. She told members that the CBJ Law Department and City Attorney John Hartle will work to answer any legal questions they pose, adding, “I may not know all the answers, but I’m happy to direct you to find them.”

Heine wondered aloud how seriously new members would be held to parliamentary rules of order.

“We don’t expect everyone to be a parliamentarian when they come to serve on a board,” McEwen answered.

“I’ll do my best to follow all the rules,” Heine joked later. “No promises.”

Howard, Heine and Garrison replaced Steven Handy, Barbara Murray and Norman Gorsuch on the Eaglecrest board after being appointed late last month by the City and Borough of Juneau Assembly.

Matt Lillard, Eaglecrest’s general manager, said the orientation for board members is voluntary, but the ski area opted in due to the significant turnover among its directors. The three new members constitute nearly half of the seven-person board.